On April 4^th, the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation announced that Connecticut Governor Dan Malloy will be honored as the recipient of the 2016 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award.  I am privileged to know and work with Governor Malloy and am thrilled he has received this prestigious distinction. The JFK Profile in Courage Award recognizes modern-day elected officials who govern for the greater good, even when it is not in their own interest to do so. The award celebrates those who choose the public interest over partisanship – who do what is right, rather than what is expedient.

The JFK Library Foundation chose to honor Governor Malloy for courageously defending the U.S. resettlement of Syrian refugees amid security concerns following the November 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, and for personally welcoming a family of Syrian refugees to New Haven. The devastating attacks in Paris incited a surge of anti-Muslim and anti-refugee movements by U.S. politicians at every level, but Governor Malloy remained resolute in his commitment to those in search of freedom, stating, “If refugees – many who are children fleeing a horrific, war-torn country – seek and are granted asylum after a rigorous security process, we should and will welcome them in Connecticut.”

Jack Schlossberg, grandson of President Kennedy, will be presenting this distinguished award for political courage at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston on May 1, 2016. “As half of U.S. governors, leading presidential candidates and countless others across the country voice support for a ban on Syrian refugees from entering the United States, Governor Dannel Malloy took a stand against the hateful, xenophobic rhetoric,” said Schlossberg. “In doing so, he put principles above politics and upheld my grandfather’s vision of America that ‘has always served as a lantern in the dark for those who love freedom but are persecuted, in misery, or in need.’”